KISZLA: FLACCO WILL BE JUDGED ON VICTORIES
Most of Broncos’ starters, including the QB, to see first action vs. Seattle
Every handoff, every dropback, every read and every throw during the first three weeks of training camp has served the same purpose for Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco: being ready for the lights of the Sept. 9 opener at Oakland.
The process continues in Thursday night’s preseason road game against the Seattle Seahawks when Flacco, acquired in an offseason trade from the Baltimore Ravens, makes his Broncos debut.
The game doesn’t count, but the work does.
“You just want to go get your feet wet a little bit,” Flacco said. “You want to feel live action again, bodies flying around you, guys getting hit and taking care of the football. Most important, you want to go out there and move the ball. And you want to gain confidence as a group that you can go out there and do it when it counts.”
When it starts to count, the Broncos hope to have a healthier top end of the depth chart.
Sixteen of the Broncos’ 21 projected Week 1 starters sat out last week’s Pro Football Hall of Fame game win over Atlanta, mostly as a precaution but also because of injury. Four starters
have been ruled out to face the Seahawks: right guard Ron Leary (precaution), cornerback Bryce Callahan (foot) and inside linebackers Todd Davis (calf ) and Josey Jewell (midsection). Receiver Emmanuel Sanders (Achilles tendon) is not expected to play, and tight end Jeff Heuerman (shoulder) “may or may not” play, per coach Vic Fangio.
“It would be great if we could come out here and survive 30-something practices and not a single guy goes down and you get every single rep with the exact guy you want to get it with,” Flacco said. “That’s just not how football works. … And I think a lot of the guys that are out, we’ve gotten a lot of work with even though they haven’t been practicing a ton.”
After Tuesday’s practice, Fangio wouldn’t commit to a snap-count range for the starters, only that Flacco is going to “play some,” and the firstunit offensive line (minus Leary) may stay in to block for quarterback Kevin Hogan.
Flacco started eight preseason openers (2009-15 and 2018) for Baltimore, and they weren’t just one-series cameos.
Flacco’s average snap count was 16.4, a high of 24 in 2009 and low of 11 in 2014. He averaged nine pass attempts, so the plan was to get him some dropbacks and pass attempts before his departure.
Last year, Flacco was 5-of-7 passing for 71 yards in 12 plays for the Ravens. He started the season but suffered a hip injury and didn’t play after Nov. 4.
Big deal to be playing in an different uniform ?
“At this point, it doesn’t really feel any different than it’s been the last 10 years,” Flacco said. “I think your rookie year is obviously a little different than any of the others. But at this point, I’m used to being here. I’m used to being in this uniform. These are my teammates, and I’m excited about (playing).”
One of those teammates is rookie left guard Dalton Risner. He was a 13year-old in Wiggins when Flacco made his NFL debut in 2008 and was 17 when Flacco was Super Bowl MVP in the Ravens’ win over San Francisco. Now Risner will be sharing a game field with No. 5.
“I look up to him a ton,” Risner said. “Being out here blocking for him is an honor. I take a lot of pride in that, because I know he knows what he’s doing and he works his butt off every day in practice. My job every day is to go out there and protect him.”